when they delivered to President Wash- | Smith, a distinguished member of this conington, who deposited it in the stone, a silver plate, inscribed as follows: "This south-east corner-stone of the Capitol of the United States of America, in the city of Washington, was laid on the 18th day of September, 1793, in the eighteenth year of American Independence, in the first year of the second term of the presidency of George Washington, whose virtues in the civil administration of his country have been as conspicuous and beneficial as his military valor and prudence have been useful in establishing her liberties, and in the year of Masonry 5793, by the President of the United States, in gress from Connecticut, speaking of the new city on his arrival there, says: 'I can not sufficiently express my admiration of its local position.' It was at this session that formal recognition was made of the great national event of the founding and establishment of the national capital, by mutual congratulatory addresses between the chief magistrate of the republic on the one part, and the senate and house of representatives on the other. A more beautiful site for a large city could scarcely have been selected. On a level plain some three miles in length, and concert with the Grand Lodge of Mary-varying from a quarter to two miles wide, land, several lodges under its jurisdiction, and Lodge No. 22 from Alexandria, Virginia." In the summer of 1800, the archives of the government were removed from Philadelphia to Washington, and, the ensuing November, the north wing of the capitol was ready for the first sitting of congress in the new metropolis. John Cotton and extending from the banks of the Potomac to a range of hills bounding the plain on the east, the new city was laid out. The idea of General Washington was that the capitol should be the center of the city, and that avenues should radiate from it at equi-distant points. To complete his plan, the metropolis should have a million of inhabitants, instead of its present very moderate fraction of that number. Though not a seven-hilled city, Washington has, as well as Rome, its Capitoline Hill, commanding views scarcely NATIONAL CAPITOL IN 1876. less striking than those of the Eternal City. The general altitude of the cityplot is forty feet above the river, but this is diversified by irregular elevations, which serve to give variety and commanding sites for the public buildings. The plot is slightly amphitheatrical, the president's house on the west standing on one of the sides, and the capitol on the other, while the space between verges towards a point near the river. The president's house and the capitol stand centrally with regard to the whole, though situated at the distance of one mile from each other, the former forty-four feet above the Potomac, and the latter seventy-two feet. All the public buildings are on a scale of magnificence worthy of a great nation; and the munificence of congress in this respect, as well as in regard to all that pertains to the city, as the seat of government of the United States, is evident on every side. This is as it should be, and betokens the destined splendor, in point of architecture, avenues and parks, institutions of art, science and education, of the federal capital. Starting from the capitol, the streets run from north to south and from east to west, their width varying from ninety to one hundred and ten feet. There are beside twenty avenues, named after the older states of the Union, which cross the streets at various angles and connect the most important points of the city, forming at their intersection with the streets and with each other numerous open spaces. These grand avenues are from one hundred and thirty to one hundred and sixty feet uniform width; the principal of these is called in honor of the state of Pennsylvania, and extends from Georgetown to the Anacostia, a distance of four miles. It forms the main avenue of communication between the capitol and the president's house and the chief offices of government. The capitol commands Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maine, and Missouri avenues; the president's house, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, and Connecticut avenues. The effect of this arrangement, taken in connection with the natural advantages of the site, is exceedingly fine-one of the finest in the world, for a city. From the hill, in especial, on which stands the capitol, the the corner-stone of that magnificent extension of the capitol which has rendered it the most superb structure of its kind in the world, was laid with splendid ceremonial, including a commemorative oration by President Fillmore, assisted by Daniel Webster, secretary of state. In the stone was also deposited a record of the event, with the following impressive statement and invocation : "If, therefore, it shall be hereafter the will of God that this structure shall fall from its base, that its foundation be upturned, and this deposit brought to the eyes of men, be it then known that on this day the union of the United States of America stands firm, that their Constitu tion still exists unimpaired and with all its original usefulness and glory, growing every day stronger and stronger in the affections of the great body of the American people, and attracting more and more the admiration of the world. And all here assembled, whether belonging to public life or to private life, with hearts devoutly thankful to Almighty God for the preservation of the liberty and happiness of the country, unite in sincere and fervent prayer that this deposit, and the walls and arches, the domes and towers, the columns and entablatures, now to be erected over it, may endure forever! GOD SAVE THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!" XIV. DEATH OF GEORGE WASHINGTON.-1799. His Sudden and Brief Illness, Last Hours, and Dying Words.-Fortitude and Serenity Through all His Sufferings.-He Calmly Announces His Approaching Dissolution Without a Murmur.-The Whole World Does Honor, by Eulogy and Lamentations, to His Exalted Worth and Immortal Fame. -He Anticipated an Early Death.-His Invariably Good Health-Exposure in a Snow-Storm.Takes a Fatal Cold.-Last Letter Written by His Hand.-Reads the Papers in the Evening.-Characteristic Reply to His Wife.-Passes a Restless Night.-Alarming Condition the Next Day.-Medical Treatment of no Avail.-Calls for His Two Wills, Burns One.-Affecting Scene at His Bedside. -Last Words, ""Tis Well!"-Only One Day's Sickness. Remains. "Posterity will talk of Washington with reverence, as the founder of a great empire, when my name shall be lost in the vortex of revolution."-NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. ASHINGTON is dead!" were the appalling words which, with the fading out of the eighteenth century, brought home to every American heart the solemn lesson of the flight of time, and that "all men are mortal." Totally unprepared as was his idolizing country for such an event, no intelligence of the slightest illness of the great chieftain having preceded the bald announcement of his death and burial,the tidings moved the nation's heart to profound amazement and sorrow, and deep answered unto deep, in the universal wail of a bereaved and stricken republic. If a nation's prayers could have prevailed, Washington-Columbia's most honored, venerated, and renowned son,-would have been immortal on earth. But the ordinance of divine wisdom is, that the great boon of immortality shall be attained by man only through the portals of the grave, and to this decree the illustrious and the humble are alike subject. Thus it was that Washington, the great Christian warrior and statesman-the greatest of good men and the best of great men-paid the debt of nature when he had scarcely reached the allotted period of three-score years and ten. The last end of so illustrious a personage as Washington, is fraught with an interest so profound and memorable, as never to lose its freshness and value to successive generations. It appeared to be the will of heaven that, so soon as the circumstances of his country enabled it to dispense with the services of the man who, above all others, was its founder and leading head, he should be summoned away from the scenes of earth. That he was one who was accustomed to consider the brevity of life and the uncertainty of human affairs, is evident from the tenor of his conduct and conversation, and from occasional passages in his correspondence. Thus, to the Hon. James M'Henry, secretary of war, he wrote, but a few months prior to his decease: "My greatest anxiety is to have all these concerns in such a clear and distinct form, that no reproach may attach itself to me when I have taken my departure for the land of spirits." He had also been making arrangements, just before the attack of illness which terminated in his death, for the construction of an improved family tomb, and in speaking of his plans. to a relative at his side, he remarked, "This change, I shall make the first of all, for I may require it before the rest." He had also been heard to say, "I am of a short-lived family, and cannot expect to remain very long upon the earth." The month of December, 1799, found him in the enjoyment of excellent health. Indeed, Major Lewis, his nephew, writing of him as he appeared to himself and a friend at that time, says, "The clear and healthy flush on his cheek and his sprightly manner brought the remark from both of us, that we had never seen the general look so well." On the tenth of December, he completed the draught of an elaborate plan for the management of his lands, laying down the rotation of the crops for a succession of years in advance. The morning of that day was clear and calm, but the afternoon was lowering. The next day, the eleventh, was blustering and rainy; and at night, as Washington recorded in his diary, "there was a large circle round the moon." The morning of the twelfth was overcast. Washington's last letter was written that morning-it was to Hamilton, and principally on the subject of a military academy. The events of that day, and of the two days following, are most minutely narrated by an eye-witness-Mr. Tobias Lear,who was Washington's private secretary as well as valued friend; and with Mr. Lear's statement, are incorporated some facts from the pen of Washington's favorite kinsman, Mr. Custis: On Thursday, December twelfth, the general rode out to his farms about ten o'clock, and did not return home till past three. Soon after he went out, the weather became very bad, rain, hail, snow falling alternately, with a cold wind. When he came in, I carried some letters to him to frank, intending to send them to the postoffice in the evening. He franked the letters, but said the weather was too bad to send a servant to the office that evening. I observed to him, that I was afraid he had got wet. He said, No, his great coat had kept him dry. But his neck appeared to be wet, and the snow was hanging upon his hair. He came to dinner, which had been waiting for him, without changing his dress. In the evening he appeared as well as usual. A heavy fall of snow took place on Friday, which prevented the general from riding out as usual. He had taken cold, undoubtedly from being so much exposed the day before, and complained of a sore throat. He, however, went out in the afternoon into the ground between the house and the river to mark some trees, which were to be cut down in the improvement of that spot. As was usual with him, he carried his own compass, noted his observations, and marked the ground. He had a hoarseness, which increased in the evening, but he made light of it. Between two and three o'clock, on Saturday morning, December fourteenth, he awoke Mrs. Washington, and told her that he was very unwell, and had had an ague. She observed that he could scarcely speak, |